


Hallelujah

by jacejosujura



Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Canon Divergence, F/M, Ignores The Secretist, Post Agents of Artifice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-31
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-12 04:30:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4465511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacejosujura/pseuds/jacejosujura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alone, Jace Beleren spends most of his nights in the tavern nigh where he lost his the love of his life. When a dark, wandering stranger shows up, they find that the thing that they have been searching for is one in the same. They vow to find her together, to piece back together their hearts, but a new piece has been created, one that none of them had counted on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

His hand clenched into a fist, this was one of the very few planes that he had never been to,  and one that he ventured to say that he would not grace with his presence for too long,  he hated the city, and it seemed that was all this plane was, just a large, overcrowded  city. It was far too late to planeswalk anywhere else,    he was weary and did not feel up to finding something, killing something, and cooking something. He had a few coins in his pockets from his various dealings and he felt a pull toward the tavern that was a mere ten feet in front of him. He could feel when someone needed his services, but it was usually out in the wilds, and he very rarely helped humans. However, his curse was to walk the multiverse and find those that needed him. He followed his gut into the tavern in what seemed to be a  poorer part of the city plane.

When he  crossed the threshold. the place was barren except for the barkeep and a young man, he couldn’t be older than twenty five. The wanderer knew that looks could be deceiving, he had been frozen and thirty for almost three centuries.  He couldn’t get a  clear view of the man’s face, anyways, it was obscured by a hood..

Jace felt the man’s gaze on him. He was approximately thirty, had hair pulled into a low ponytail and reeked of the woods. His eyes were strikingly familiar, he had looked into an identical pair for nearly a year. The same eyes that had wept when they had lost Kallist, the same eyes that had rolled in pleasure when he had been inside her, the same eyes that he ached, needed, pined for.   It was nothing more than a coincidence, of course, and he needed to stop staring. He didn’t want to unnerve him, he was a mountain of a man, nearly seven feet tall. Jace clutched his glass and bit back the knot in his throat that came up whenever he thought of his love.

He wanted nothing more to help her, to free her of her demons, quite literally. He couldn’t concentrate on anything else, but he didn’t have the backbone to try to reach out to her. She consumed him, she  was his first thought and his last one, every single day. His broken heart couldn’t love her any harder than it did, and he knew that the wouldn’t be whole again until he had her back in his arms.

If that’s what she even wanted, Jace thought bitterly. Surely she had moved on from him. She was far too beautiful not to have done so, when they were together, Jace was the envy of all the men they came across,.. In a moment of anger and envy, he put too much pressure on the glass, and the force combined with the mana that was flooding through him in his emotional, half drunken state was enough to shatter the glass that he was grasping. A shard of it found its way into his hand, creating a deep laceration that was pouring scarlet.

At least you’re still alive, Jace thought bitterly.  It was far too late to go see Emmara, and he really didn’t want to anyway. Her overbearing personality was wearing on him,  and he was about to get up and walk out in search of suppiles when the other patron walked over to him. The man grasped his hand in his gargantuan one, and Jace felt the healing magic course through him,   the skin stitched itself back together as if he had never been wounded by his own stupidity.

“Thank you,” Jace grunted. He was   genuinely grateful for his gesture, He shook the man’s hand and nodded.  “You saved my cloak,”  Jace added.

“Your magic tastes different than mine, young one,”  the man said to him. “Powerful, but different. So, how did someone such as yourself end up here?”

 

Jace just huffed. He didn’t know why he felt so compelled to tell him what was going on,. He was obviously some sort of shaman, but Jace knew that not many knew of her.. So he just chuckled the self-depricating laugh of a broken man.

The wanderer looked into the man’s eyes. Something clicked inside him, he just knew, like he always did.

“What was her name?”  He asked the mage

“Liliana,” Jace said. It was the first time he’d spoken her name aloud since that day.

“I had a Liliana once too,” the nature mage said. “She was everything to me,” he said. He didn’t talk about Liliana to anyone, he had no idea what compelled him to say that. It’s not like he could know her. She was long since dead. His father , their father, had killed her. There was no doubt in his mind about that.

“Was she the love your life,” Jace snorted. That’s what his Lili was to him. He would never move on. He would nurse this broken heart to the grave, he just knew it.

“No,  romantic love has never appealed to me,”  he said. Jace assumed he was talking about his mother.

“I had a brother once,” Jace said. “We looked so much alike that people thought we were twins. I miss him every single day, but it pales in comparison to how much of my mind and heart that woman takes up,” Jace spewed. “I can’t think, I can breathe, I can’t eat, everything reminds me of her. Even you, funnily enough,”  he spat. He was almost angry. He had never lost anything he’d ever missed, until her. Until she took over his heart, his mind, his body.

“Did she die?” The wanderer asked.. He was sure that the eternities had brought him in here for  a reason. This cloaked sorcerer was  surely it. Perhaps he could mend him, through friendship. He knew that he’d be staying in this wretched city plane for far longer than he had anticipated, and he heaved a sigh.

“No,” Jace said. “She’s not dead. I can feel that,”  he said. “But she won’t come back,” Jace said, the knot from earlier making a reappearance. .

The taller man clapped him on the back. Jace felt an uplift to his mood, he knew that the alcohol never did that. The man was meddling with his feelings.

“Thanks but no thanks for that,” Jace said.

“You wallowing in self pity won’t bring her back,” he said. He knew that above anything else, really. He had been so grief stricken that he’d tried to take  his own life short of ten times. She had died by his hand of course. If she had just let him die, she would have lived a long, happy life. He wouldn’t let the young man do that. These were exactly the things that he tried to stop.  He couldn’t let the young mage waste his life away.

“She won't come back,” Jace shouted, angry.

“If she isn’t dead, there is always   a chance,” the wanderer said, “ no matter how small. There is always a chance.”

“I love her,  but I’m helpless, and being helpless makes me dangerous to both of us. I can’t endanger her. I’d rather her be alive and alone than dead and with me,” Jace choked out.

“There are ways to help everyone, son, you just have to find it. Love is the most powerful force there is, and it will find its way,”  he said.

Jace allowed the sob that he’d been fighting all night to wrack his chest. He needed to get this out, it was poisoning him as much as the liquor.

“Let me help you find her,”  he said. “I can walk through different..”

“You’re a planeswalker?” Jace said, stunned. He knew the man’s magic was too strong for him to be just a regular mage.  

“Yes,” he said.

“So was she. And so am I,”  he said

The wanderer had expected this, he knew that his magic tasted different from those he had experienced. It was his first time meeting someone like him.

“What is your name?”  Jace asked.

“Josu,”  he said. “Josu Vess,”  he finished. He felt that he had no reason to lie. The young man’s motives were pure.

“Impossible,” Jace choked out. “Impossible,” he said, backing up.

“What?”  

Josu was taken aback. He had never had anyone that reacted to him this way, He was normally taken in with great kindness, his abilities made sure of that.

Jace reached a shaking hand into one of his cloak pockets, the one right above his heart where he kept it. His knuckles brushed the embroidery and his heart felt like it was bleeding. The old, folded up photograph of them from when they had been lovers, his Lili planting a kiss on his cheek.

“That’s my Liliana,” Jace said. “And you were nothing more than a story, someone that she had lost,”  Jace   sputtered. “You were the only person she ever loved,” he said. “Before me,” he added quietly.

It had to be another language, Jace thought to himself, because the man had only breathed one word.

“Lilia,”  

**  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
**


	2. Pride Over Pity

Josu couldn't believe his eyes. His sister, the one who as good as died by his hand was captured in a snapshot that couldn't be more than a year old. The edges weren't even frayed properly yet. He took the photo from the mage and turned it over and over in his hands.

 

"How," Josu croaked, barely able to manage words. His breath caught in his chest, a sob was trapped there. "She died, our father killed her, and I killed him in a fit of rage and malice."

 

"She told me that she fled for her life when she believed you dead. She told me that when she lost you, it mutilated her soul. She thought you had died by her hand, that your death was her fault. She told me about the Raven Man and you going insane. It tore her heart, her very being completely asunder. Because before Kallist and I, you were the only person she'd ever cared for."

 

"Where is she?" Josu asked of Jace. The latter of the two men hated to disappoint him, but he didn't know.

 

"I haven't the slightest clue. I do know she has gotten herself into a patch of trouble with a beast mage. He came to me looking for her, and I threw off the name of a plane I know she had no interest in. But that's not even the worst bit."

 

Josu gripped his too-small glass in his hand, urging Jace with his eyes, and body language to go on. The man's thoughts were screaming at him. Jace swallowed, hard. After all this time, Josu thought. I am going to get to see her again. I'll finally be able to apologize. Josu made a motion with his hand, prompting the younger man to continue. Jace tried to quench his parched lips, in an effort to spit this information out. Before you choke on it, Liliana had said, months ago in this very tavern.

 

"She made a deal—or maybe more than one deal. For her youth." Jace said. "And I promised her I would free her, help her get rid of these demons and try again. Try to love her again. But I haven't stopped loving her. Not for one second. But I don't even know where to start. I would forgive everything right this second if it meant she was safe in my arms. If it meant that she was away from Tezzeret, Nicol Bolas and the demons."

 

Josu sat across from him, pensieve. He could possibly find a way to end the deal, to negate her commitment without damaging her soul. Or they could find the demons. He could protect her.

 

"Do you want her back?" Josu quipped to Jace. "Do you still love her?"

 

"Of course I do. But I doubt she wants me back. I left her at her most vulnerable. We should have tried to work it out. But we didn't. We ran like children, instead of looking for a solution. We just ran. And now I have no idea where the love of my life is. Because we acted stupidly."

 

Jace tossed back the amber liquid in his glass, relishing the burning sensation. At least he was still alive.

 

"We have to find her, Jace! She is out there, probably alone and terrified!" Josu said.

 

"She can handle herself. She's a big girl. And she doesn't want to see me."

 

"So you're giving up on your promise?!" Josu thundered, an angry blush rising to his cheeks. He had every right to be angry. Jace had dropped a bomb and was essentially going to do nothing about it.

 

"I obviously don't want to give up on her... I just don't know how not to, Josu. And I don't know where she is. And I.. I left her when I told her I never would. That.. that night.. we we-were.."

 

Josu's eyes and mind were yet again pressing him for information. He wanted to know everything. He wanted to know about his sister. He couldn't blame him, she was perplexing and infuriating, and Jace was still so passionately in love with her.

 

"We-we were making love. And I blurted out a proposal...And and... the next day everything fell apart. The only thing remotely close to an answer that I got was her wrapping her legs around me..." Jace breathed in, reliving the moment. He had felt whole and complete when he was inside her, the way she panted and moaned about being so full and so perfect was still something that woke Jace up in a cold sweat at night.

 

"Do you stand by what you said?"

 

"I do, of course I do. What kind of man would it make me if I didn't? Just- I don't want to talk about her here. Tezzeret could be anywhere, agents of Bolas could be inside the walls. Just.. Just come with me."

 

They walked back toward the place where he'd stayed with this gargantuan man's sister. Where they'd lived, laughed, loved and been daring enough to plan a life. But how much of that was true? Jace didn't know and he didn't know if he wanted to find out. But the eternities had seen fit to push her brother, who'd they'd both believed long since dead back into his life, and subsequently back into Liliana's, if Jace wanted.

 

"Is there anyone who might know where she could be?"

 

"One person, one being, really. He's not a person. He's an elder dragon—he's evil, bent on ruling. He's the one who brokered the deals with the demons and Liliana. But he's evil and he will do nothing without compensation. I fear for what he's done to her because she failed in her mission of delivering the Consortium, I dissolved it instead." Jace said, explaining.

 

"Why?" Josu asked.

 

"Because it was a corrupt organization without a leader and Liliana was never upfront with what she needed or wanted from me."

 

"I can protect you- I can protect her!"

 

"Josu! She doesn't want me!"

 

"If I know anything about Liliana, about my sister, it's once she "imprints" for lack of a better word, you don't go away. She doesn't stop loving you.  She doesn't love many... But when she does-"

 

Jace cut him off and completed the sentence for him. "She loves hard. She falls hard. Which is why she'll never forgive me. I promised her that I wouldn't leave her- that I saw past her magic and her past, and then I let my anger overtake the love. She was waiting for me and I left her. I let fear and anger win. Jace turned the key to the small flat that he had shared with Liliana.

 

"Jace!" Josu yelled. I am telling you that if you give up on her, you've made yourself another enemy!"

 

"I could never- I don't want to! But Nicol Bolas.." The mind mage trailed off.

 

"I told you I could protect you!" The wanderer yelled.

 

"Don't you see?! I'm not worried about myself! If I show up? He could kill her or worse! There's no way- none, that Bolas would release her from his service. She owes him. And as powerful as she is, she can't end him. Not alone. Not even with my help. He has Tezzeret and Sarkhan Vol and countless other minions who aren't even walkers."

 

“Where is he? I’m going! Is he one of us?!”

 

“He’s a planeswalker- Josu- no- you can’t! Don’t you see how much you are endangering her!”

 

“IT’S BEEN NEARLY THREE CENTURIES! I DON’T HAVE ANY MORE TIME TO WAIT!” The giant of a man thundered at Jace.

 

“If he’s torturing her as you say he might be who knows how much longer she has!” The wanderer continued. “I am Nature’s Herald! I have the powers of the wilds to back me; nature bends to my very command!  You can meld minds, young man! Do you think that us, as strong as we are, cannot distract him long enough to extract my sister?”

 

Jace huffed through his nose. Josu did have quite the point. He could perhaps distract the elder dragon while Liliana escaped, but even then, would she come to him? Would she want him? Was he so scared of being rejected that he could let her die? He knew what a man would do, and it was time to start making the decisions of a man and not of a child. Jace wanted her back, he needed her back. He was going to drown himself at the bottom of a bottle if he didn’t. He knew this, and apparently the eternities did too, or else he would not be standing in front of the one other person that had ever loved, really, passionately, truly loved, Liliana Vess. He felt tears stinging at his eyes. She had waited for him and nothing, he decided to go back to the place where they had lived as one and pity himself. Liliana had a phrase that was her go to when something went wrong.

 

Pride over Pity.

 

It was up to him to protect her and he knew it. Whether she wanted his help or not, she was going to get it. No more running from Nicol Bolas. No more running from Tezzeret or her demons.

 

“There is only one place I know to start, Josu. And it’s not a pretty place or a place that one wishes that they could be. I know where the Elder Dragon makes his home, it is scarier than any subset of Innistrad may be. No one wants to go there, the demonic and draconic presence is enough to scare any sane human being. But if he’s keeping Liliana, I’m sure she’s imprisoned somewhere on that god-forsaken wasteland. He could also have her out doing misdeeds. Because she owes him,” Jace said pouring himself another drink.

 

“Hope is the only thing stronger than fear, Jace, I told you that before.”

 

“Yes but I don’t have a hope of her being interested,” Jace said.

 

“Is her life not enough?”

 

Jace thought back onto the moment when he’d worn Baltrice’s face. He knew that he and Liliana would meet again, he said that himself. Her life was worth much more than Jace could ever fathom, but the ache in his heart of not having her by his side is something that he had learned to live with. Josu was right, her life was more than her romantic interest. He had no plans on going back on his promise. His excuse up until now had been that he had not the resources or the will to find her, but the eternities had dumped Josu in his lap, an obvious sign, maybe even a roadmap to find his way back to Liliana.

 

“Where is this place you speak of?”

 

“Where the mana is starved and evil rules all: Grixis.”

 

* * *

 

 

Jace and Josu, at the same time, reached into the Eternities and willed them to show them the way, Jace after Josu, because as unfortunate as it was, Jace could get them there. He’d refused to go with Liliana when they were together, but had followed her trail her for only a brief second soon after she had left. He had turned his tail and ran, straight back to Ravnica, his home, his safe place.

 

Grixis was anything but. As he and Josu landed on the parched grounds of the wasteland Nicol Bolas called home, and probably Tezzeret, too, Josu coughed.

 

“There is nothing, where is nature? Where is it?”

 

Josu felt his bonds with nature loosen—and it scared him. He had to help Jace, but if he had no access to the source of his power…  He banished the thought. There were here on a mission, and that mission was to find and free his sister from the servitude of the elder dragon, and then perhaps they could find out what was really going on beneath the veil Liliana kept herself hidden under.

 

“I told you this place would be the scariest you had ever visited.” But just as Jace tried to bind himself to the small amount of blue mana on the plane there was a sharp, time-worn, age-old voice that rung in his head.

 

“Hello, Mindsculptor, I’ve been waiting for you….”

 

 


	3. Blood of Our Blood

Jace nearly jumped out of his skin when heard the voice that belong to none other than Nicol Bolas. He'd been waiting for him? That surely meant that he had her, Jace bit back the bile that was rising in his throat. He gripped to what little blue mana was present on the plane and tried to fish his way into Nicol Bolas' thoughts, but he was struck down, in an instant by the sheer power of the elder dragon.

Jace dropped to his knees, holding his head. Nicol Bolas would willingly give him the information he needed, and he knew not about this other walker, just that he was a spare. Not many cared for Liliana Vess, and he knew none cared enough about the necromancer to follow him to Grixis, unless the party was being controlled by Jace himself or was woefully ignorant of who he was. Bolas spoke without words. He breathed in- green and white, healing magic, but the selfishness of black was present as well. He took a long look at the man. He'd heard tales of Nature's Herald, but never paid much attention. He was too busy in this moment trying to drag Jace up, but Jace continued to hold his head in agony, he was sure he was dying. Bolas had a maniacal laugh for the mind mage.

"You should have given me the Consortium, but now you are useless to me, why should I help you? For all you know she is dead!" Bolas laughed at Jace. "She failed me. She should be dead," Nicol Bolas finished.

"She's not!" Jace roared at Bolas. "I can feel it. I can feel her. I know she's not dead! Where is she? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?!"

Jace couldn't find the strength to stand, the weight on his mind was far too much. Every time Josu tried to pick him up off the ground, he would just collapse again.

"Pathetic little mindmage," Bolas cackled. "You'll stand when I say so." Jace's vision darkened, and the last he heard was Josu's voice calling for him, but he couldn't fight against the darkness any longer.

Josu was afraid; and he had never been such in his life. He was powerless here, powerless to help Jace to find out the information they needed to find Liliana. He watched blood trickle from Jace's nose as his body assumed the fetal position. Josu used the little power he had to put up a barrier between Jace and the dragon. Jace couldn't see or hear anything, but Josu heard Jace, screaming his sister's name, over and over, like he knew she was in trouble. Every scream of  _Lili, no_ and  _Lili,_ please was punctuated with a hit to the hard ground beneath him, his nose pouring more blood from the sheer force of the magic that was being thrust upon him. Josu couldn't see the information, just Jace's immeasurable pain.

He was willing to go through that for Liliana?  _I'll never doubt him again,_ the Herald of Nature thought.

" _Where is she? LILI!"_ Jace continued to wail.

_Liliana sat with her head between her knees, trying futilely for the third morning in a row to stave off of the nausea that plagued her. Jace noticed that wherever she was hiding, it was dark, as if there was no daylight, and he knew not a plane other than Grixis that had such. He knew that demons were lurking around her and that if he could find her, then the beastmage would. It was like he was looking from above, and all he saw was her, sick to death at her stomach, laying on the bathroom floor of what looked like their flat in Ravnica, but he knew it wasn't._

" _Why," she groaned. "I need him," she moaned. "Jace," she said, as if saying his name could make him appear out of thin air._

_He couldn't see into her mind, just that she was suffering. Just that she needed someone, and he could only hope that it was him that she was aching for. When he heard his name exit her lips, it was like a wave of hope came over him. He pushed his mind to the brink, pushing Bolas out, standing up on his own._

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?!" Jace roared again, not knowing that Josu's barrier was keeping him sane. Josu was fighting against the sheer power the dragon was exerting, but if they could get the information, it would be far more than worth it.

"I have done nothing to her, mindmage," Nicol Bolas told Jace. "It is what you have done."

Jace knew that he had hurt Liliana mentally. But he had never pushed her to the point of curling up, defeated. That wasn't Liliana Vess. He sent a wave of blue magic crashing toward the elder dragon, which hit Nicol Bolas with the full force of Jace's mind. He only cared to know where Liliana was. Now that he knew she was alive and needed him, but couldn't get to him, he wouldn't stop looking for her. That fire that he had lit under Josu had been lit by Bolas' information.

"I want the chainveil," Bolas said, looking down at Jace and Josu.

"The what?" Jace countered. He knew not what Bolas could even be hinting at.

"It's how she intends to get rid of her pacts with the demons and destroy the beastmage, Beleren. And you see, I can't let that happen. As long as she is in pacts with the demons, I am her fifth pact. She owes me," Bolas said.

" _SHE OWES YOU NOTHING!"_ Both men roared at him.

"She owes me everything and that she knows. She seeks to protect the blood of your blood Jace, she won't come near me as long as you are living. And yet, here you are, going against everything she ever wanted. She only wanted to keep you safe. When I saw how pathetically inept she was unless she had you, I released her from my services. For now," Bolas said.

"The blood of my blood? The only blood I have ever given was over Kallist Rhoka! And he is long gone, he is in the cold hard ground."

"She has something that I want, things that I will get from her. She will never stop protecting you, though and she will never be free from her pacts until she can let you go. Which is never going to happen. The storm that Liliana Vess once was has been reduced because of you, Jace Beleren." Bolas said.

"She is the perfect storm- I only sought to make her better. I loved her- I love her. Nothing will change that. Whether it is today or fifteen years from now, nothing will change that I will go toe to talon with you to protect her! Her brother is by my side and do you think that Markov will stand by and let this happen after she saved his plane? It will happen, Bolas! The walkers know your end game even if we don't know each other." Jace said.

"She will never let you go, Jace Beleren, and you are her biggest danger. You seek to help her by finding her? You only put her in more danger. The price on your head doesn't only exist on Ravnica," Bolas said,

"What does she have that you want, other than this artifact?" Josu said. "The Vess Line on Dominaria? I can give you half the plane."

"As tempting as that is, dirtmage, no that isn't it." Bolas said, addressing Liliana's brother.

"You're running out of time, Beleren. As much as I want everything she has, you want it more. These type of things don't keep," Bolas said to Jace, snark and sarcasm thick in the eons old voice. "You wasted your life away in that tavern while she kept you alive and away from me- you think you have wronged her now? If you don't find her, you will have wronged more than just her."

Jace couldn't and didn't realize what Nicol Bolas was talking about. He didn't know anything that he could have given Liliana that she didn't already have, other than the Infinite Consortium, and that was long since gone. This artifact she procured? Jace knew nothing of it. He hadn't given it to her.

"Find her, mindmage. You have no idea what's at stake if you don't." Bolas pushed himself into Jace's mind again. This time, the picture was of a grisly looking demon, with bat like wings, and face of evil, and deadly looking scythes where hands should be.

"He owns her, as do three others, one of which she has dissolved. You think you can save her? Go ahead. Try." Jace couldn't breathe, Bolas' magic was suffocating him.  _Innistrad awaits you._

Just as he had appeared, Nicol Bolas was gone within a breath. Innistrad? Jace knew of the dark plane, but would have no way to get there if he couldn't follow another walker. He knew where she was, and he lay on the ground, completely powerless against the onslaught of magic that would have destroyed the mind of any other person, any other walker even. Josu collapsed next to Jace, exhausted from keeping up the shield that could have been the reason that Jace himself wasn't destroyed.

Jace knew that Bolas desperately wanted both he and Liliana on his side, and that she wouldn't unless something lay in it for her, and it was unlike Bolas to just let her go. But he did, he let her go. Just like Jace. It didn't make sense.

" _Innistrad,"_ Jace repeated to himself, just barely loud enough for Josu to hear.

"I can take you there- do you have the strength to walk right now?"

"How do you know of this place?" Jace asked Josu.

"I go where the wilds pull me, I have been to planes you probably don't know existed."

"I'm not sure if that was backhanded or not," Jace said, salt present in his voice.

"I'm a lot older than you," Josu shrugged. "Are we going?" It wasn't a question. Josu was going whether Jace was or not.

"He showed me her, she was curled up, looking deathly pale and sick, and I know nothing of this artifact she has somehow procured. She was calling for me," Jace said. "There is no choice anymore. She needs me, and she's not deceiving me or anyone. Because Liliana Vess would not reduce herself to what I saw. Something is wrong with her. I think she's cursed." Jace said, dropping his head.

"I can heal any curse," Josu said. "Worry not, my brother."

Jace was floored that he had any sort of esteem to Josu, but Josu only cared about the Wilds, and his sister. And while their philosophies may differ, their goal did not. Jace took in a deep breath and let Josu, pull him through the eternities.

* * *

Stensia was a dark place. He put his hood up, wrapping himself in his phantasmal illusions to not attract unwanted attention from anyone or any creature. Josu didn't seem perturbed by the perpetual darkness. Jace followed close behind him, as he seemed to know exactly what he where he was going. He walked past a graveyard, past taverns and outposts, looking all the while. It was not long before he found himself at the foot of a house- a castle.

Josu knocked on the door, and upon seeing it was him, the girl fled, which in and of itself perturbed Jace.

"Lord Markov," Josu said, a slight bow.

Sorin Markov. Jace had heard of him and his vampiric line, but what did this have to do with Liliana?

"Josu?" I didn't expect you- or… Beleren?"

"I assume you are looking for Liliana," he said to Jace. It wasn't a question. It seemed as Sorin knew Liliana and knew where she was."

"How could you not tell me?!" Josu thundered at Sorin.

"Tell you what, Josu?" Sorin said, lazily.

"She is my sister! She is my blood!"

If possible, Sorin got paler. "I knew not," he said. "It has been many years since either of you visited Innistrad, and the plane is in a mess right now, Excuse me for trying to find a way to right things back at home."

"So she is here," Jace said, in a very small voice.

"She is," he turned to Jace. "She… needs you to say the least. Josu, please stay with me so I can fill you in…"

Josu wanted to protest. But he trusted Sorin. He had never led him astray before, not once, not in the hundred years he'd known him. He'd hadn't known that she was living and it seemed now that he'd been waiting eons to see her.

Josu pulled out a chair, and Jace pulled the directions out of Sorin's mind, letting the door to Markov Manor close behind him.

* * *

Liliana Vess sat, holding her newborn, just barely six week old baby in her arms. She knew that somehow she had to reach out to him, but she couldn't take Jasper with her through the eternities. She vaguely thought about asking Sorin to go to Ravnica for her, but Jace didn't know who Sorin was, and she couldn't put him in anymore danger with Bolas. Even though he'd released her, she knew her debts to the dragon were far from repaid. Ever since Avacyn had vanished, this plane had no light. She was scared, something she'd never been before, but that was because she was looking down at the product of her and Jace Beleren's love, There was a short rapping at her front door. She placed Jasper in her sling, wondering what Sorin could possibly want at this time of night. She opened the door and there was nothing but a flash of blue before her. He touched her face, making sure it was her, making sure she was there, his eyes closed. Tears came to her eyes as she did the same. Her Jace was in front of her. Her Jace had came for her- for them. When he opened his eyes, it seemed the dragon's riddles had made sense. Jace glanced down at the sling on Liliana's chest, confused at first, but then his eyes looked back at him. His sandy brown hair looked back up at him.

_She only wishes to protect the blood of your blood._

Jace lifted the tiny bundle away from her mother, without a word, He asked with his eyes. He didn't have to ask any unnecessary questions. The sickness hadn't been poison. It had been ...them. A product of their love. Liliana placed her head to Jace's.

"Jasper," Liliana answered. "Jasper Kaira Beleren."

 


End file.
